History of Ajala the traveler; the famous African man who toured 87 European countries

 History of Ajala the traveler; the famous African man who toured 87 European countries

By ADEDOKUN AA ( BLACKSCORPION)

Ajala|African tourist

Moshood Adisa Olabisi Ajala, popularly known as Ajala the traveller back in his days, wanted to capture the world but was eventually consumed by his passion.

He was born in 1934 in Ghana, into a Nigerian Polygamous home, of 30 Children and four wives. He was the 25th  child of his father, who relocated back to Nigeria, when Olabisi was an infant. He had his secondary education, at the Baptist Academy, Lagos and the Ibadan, Boys High School, Ibadan.

Ajala in Moscow

In 1952, at the age of 18, Olabisi proceeded to America, to further his education. He was admitted to the university of Chicago, as a pre-medical student, whose dream, was to become a medical doctor and return to medical practice in Nigeria, to debunk and disparage the traditional medical practice as being fetish.against this

hisdeportation order, he climbed an 80- Foot radio tower, where he screamed that he would jump rather, to his death, than being deported.

In December, 1954, Ajala found his way back to America, with another wife- Hermine Aileen, who later divorced him on charges of being an adulterer and a philanderer, in August 1955. In December of that year, Ajala married another 19- year -old white London Radio T.V actress- Joan Simons. Ajala became a world renowned celebrity,

In 1972, the Nigerian music legendary, Chief Ebenezer Obey, celebrated Olabisi Ajala and his adventures, in his hit Album- “Board Members.”

Obey sang the praises of Olabisi Ajala in the album– “Ajala Travel all over the world (2ce), Ajala travel (2ce), Ajala travels all over the world, Alajala mi omo olola

Ajala travel round the globe

Ajala suffered stroke and an irredeemable one indeed. It was a year long sickness in pain, agony and melancholy. Alhaja Sade, who then lived in Ikotun, a suburb of Lagos and his numerous children, scattered across the globe, could not save the situation, except Olaolu, who was then a teenager, then in Baptist Academy, Bariga, Lagos and Bolanle, who was also in secondary school, tendered him.

Ajala could not take adequate care of himself, because he had no money and the stroke became terribly worst and devastating, until he breathed his last.

The lesson learnt, is that when fortune and opportunities smile on you, they must be held with a hand of steel and never allowed to slip off. Ajala perhaps, returned the smile with an unwelcoming and uncaring mien, and thus, a life that ended tragically on the 2nd  of February, 1999, at the general hospital Ikeja Lagos, as a result of paralysis from stroke at the age of 65 years.

Olabisi Ajala, having started a meaningful and robust life at the age of 18, it is still strange, mind bugling and befuddling that Olabisi Ajala did not leave behind a single house in his 65 years, and thus the exit of a life, that started in early prosperity at the age of 18 and ended in penury at 65.

Nonetheless, Ajala made his mark!

May the soul of Moshood Adisa Olabisi Ajala (the traveller), continually find peaceful repose with the Lord.